Need honest advice!

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

jetfan49

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Dec 7, 2010
Messages
47
Reaction score
0
Hello! I am a new member to SDN and I need some serious advice. I'm currently a junior in college and I plan to take my MCATs in the spring. As of now my overall gpa is a 3.5 and my science gpa is a 3.2. I have over 150+ hours volunteering as an emergency medicine researcher at a hospital, I am currently doing research with two published professors at my college, I am a part of an athletic team at school, I work part time at an eye doctors where I shadowed the doctor and I am involved in over five organizations/clubs on campus (one in which I will be traveling to Honduras for 7 days to provide medical care to 3 villages with 25 fellow students and 3 physicians). I've been hearing so many different things about acceptance into medical schools and I don't know if I even stand a chance to get in.

Thanks!

Members don't see this ad.
 
Mean stats for those accepted to MD schools are cGPA 3.67/BCPM 3.61 and for DO schools are cGPA 3.48/sGPA 3.35. Your chances for MD will be better with a strong MCAT score and a steep recent upward grade trend in the sciences. If you don't have terrific test-taking skills, you might even consider another year of GPA repair before applying, unless you are a resident of a state with a fairly forgiving state med school.
 
Well by the time I apply I should have an overall 3.6 gpa and a 3.3-3.4 science gpa. I am aiming to get a 30+ on the MCAT. Do you think my extracurricular activities will help my application in a positive way?
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I have over 150+ hours volunteering as an emergency medicine researcher at a hospital,
I am currently doing research with two published professors at my college,
I am a part of an athletic team at school,
I work part time at an eye doctors where I shadowed the doctor and
I am involved in over five organizations/clubs on campus (one in which I will be traveling to Honduras for 7 days to provide medical care to 3 villages with 25 fellow students and 3 physicians).
If you have 150 hours mostly working directly with sick people, then that is a good amount of clinical experience. How do you interact with patients at the eye doc's office?
How many months or years of research experience will you have by the time you apply? Will you have a publication?
Is the athletic team an intercollegiate team or intramural or a club sport, and how many hours per week is entailed during the season of the sport?
Is the eye doctor an ophthalmologist or an optometrist? Regardless, you'll want a broader shadowing experience by the time you apply, at leat 50 hours, but ideally more like 60-80 hours, including a primary care doc.
Clubs don't help you much unless they get you some leadership or community service hours. It's fine to list them anyway to give adcomms an idea of your interests.
What will you be doing on the Honduras trip? Translating? Taking vital signs, helping to dispense meds, bringing patients from station to station? Maybe you can get some shadowing time in here, but most of it should be in US clinical facilities.
You don't mention any nonmedical community seervice, which would strengthen your application.
 
If you have 150 hours mostly working directly with sick people, then that is a good amount of clinical experience. How do you interact with patients at the eye doc's office?
How many months or years of research experience will you have by the time you apply? Will you have a publication?
Is the athletic team an intercollegiate team or intramural or a club sport, and how many hours per week is entailed during the season of the sport?
Is the eye doctor an ophthalmologist or an optometrist? Regardless, you'll want a broader shadowing experience by the time you apply, at leat 50 hours, but ideally more like 60-80 hours, including a primary care doc.
Clubs don't help you much unless they get you some leadership or community service hours. It's fine to list them anyway to give adcomms an idea of your interests.
What will you be doing on the Honduras trip? Translating? Taking vital signs, helping to dispense meds, bringing patients from station to station? Maybe you can get some shadowing time in here, but most of it should be in US clinical facilities.
You don't mention any nonmedical community seervice, which would strengthen your application.


At the eye doctors office I am a contact lens technician, meaning I teach first time contact lens wearers how to handle contacts. I basically teach them how to take it in and out of their eyes. I also assist in sales and have learned a lot about the eye in general. The doctor is an optometrist who will also be writing a letter of recommendation for me since I have been working with her for over 2 years now.

By the time I apply I should have only one semester of research experience. We are researching with rats and their memory abilities. Hopefully there will be a publication, considering both professors I am working with have other publications.

I am on the cross country team, an intercollegiate team. Our season consists of only the fall semester and we devote approximately 2-3 hours a day, 6 days a week to practice and competing in races.

I am going to Honduras with a club that I am a part of called Global Medical Brigades. I am a member of the E-Board and we will be assisting the physicians that we bring through out the trip. We will be setting up medications and taking vital signs of patients. This will be a great experience to see first hand some medical cases I have not seen volunteering at the hospital. Since I have been a volunteer at the hospital, I have met orthopedic surgeons, cardiac surgeons, ER doctors, Pediatricians and many DO's.

In nonmedical community service, I am a part of a sorority in the inter-greek council at my college. We do various walks for different causes and hold an annual fashion show in which we raise over $15,000 every year for the Make-A-Wish foundation. I am a little hesitant in writing that I am in a sorority in my application because I do not want to be stereotyped by the admissions commitee. I am also a member of CCFA (Crohns & Colitis Foundation) outside of the sorority. I have been a member for over 2 years now and I attend the annual walks.

I know it is a lot to read, sorry! Hope you write back.
 
1) At the eye doctors office I am a contact lens technician, meaning I teach first time contact lens wearers how to handle contacts. The doctor is an optometrist who will also be writing a letter of recommendation for me since I have been working with her for over 2 years now.

2) By the time I apply I should have only one semester of research experience. We are researching with rats and their memory abilities. Hopefully there will be a publication, considering both professors I am working with have other publications.

3) I am on the cross country team, an intercollegiate team. Our season consists of only the fall semester and we devote approximately 2-3 hours a day, 6 days a week to practice and competing in races.

4) I am going to Honduras with a club that I am a part of called Global Medical Brigades. I am a member of the E-Board and we will be assisting the physicians that we bring through out the trip. We will be setting up medications and taking vital signs of patients. This will be a great experience to see first hand some medical cases I have not seen volunteering at the hospital. Since I have been a volunteer at the hospital, I have met orthopedic surgeons, cardiac surgeons, ER doctors, Pediatricians and many DO's.

5) In nonmedical community service, I am a part of a sorority in the inter-greek council at my college. We do various walks for different causes and hold an annual fashion show in which we raise over $15,000 every year for the Make-A-Wish foundation. I am a little hesitant in writing that I am in a sorority in my application because I do not want to be stereotyped by the admissions commitee. I am also a member of CCFA (Crohns & Colitis Foundation) outside of the sorority. I have been a member for over 2 years now and I attend the annual walks.
1) You can include the shadowing time with the optometrist on your application, but be sure to have MD or DO shadowing too. Making the teaching component of your job clear on the application helps you.

2) What about the 150 hours in the ER? That can be listed as research activty too.

3) There are many qualities that athletes have that translate into medicine. With the time commitment you have, it makes it more difficult to get in other ECs, which many adcomms will appreciate.

4) This gives you some leadership and also more clinical experience, possibly even some shadowing time. Maybe you can ask the docs you've met about shadowing opportunities in the future when back on US soil.

5) It's your choice about mentioning Greek life or not. There have been SDN threads in the past that debated the plus/minus factor of doing so. It's great that you have some community service from the association.
 
1) You can include the shadowing time with the optometrist on your application, but be sure to have MD or DO shadowing too. Making the teaching component of your job clear on the application helps you.

2) What about the 150 hours in the ER? That can be listed as research activty too.

3) There are many qualities that athletes have that translate into medicine. With the time commitment you have, it makes it more difficult to get in other ECs, which many adcomms will appreciate.

4) This gives you some leadership and also more clinical experience, possibly even some shadowing time. Maybe you can ask the docs you've met about shadowing opportunities in the future when back on US soil.

5) It's your choice about mentioning Greek life or not. There have been SDN threads in the past that debated the plus/minus factor of doing so. It's great that you have some community service from the association.

The volunteer I do in the hospital can also translate into research as you mentioned. I am still questioning my gpa but do you think with everything I have mentioned an overall gpa of a 3.6 and a sci gpa of 3.3-3.4 and all these extracurriculars that I will be a competitive applicant for getting into medical school? I plan on really studying and getting a 32+ on my MCAT because it will really impress adcomms considering my sci gpa is not very high. Scoring high on the MCAT is my only hope at this point.
 
Mean stats for those accepted to MD schools are cGPA 3.67/BCPM 3.61 and for DO schools are cGPA 3.48/sGPA 3.35. Your chances for MD will be better with a strong MCAT score and a steep recent upward grade trend in the sciences. If you don't have terrific test-taking skills, you might even consider another year of GPA repair before applying, unless you are a resident of a state with a fairly forgiving state med school.
Don't forget this bolded part. You may well get an MD acceptance with what you described, but your chance of an acceptance will be higher if you either add some DO schools to your list, or continue the GPA repair for another year.
 
Don't forget this bolded part. You may well get an MD acceptance with what you described, but your chance of an acceptance will be higher if you either add some DO schools to your list, or continue the GPA repair for another year.

I am going to apply to DO schools as well and I have considered GPA repair for another year but the only thing that will be effected is my cgpa which would rise to a 3.7 if all goes well. However my sci gpa would still remain a 3.3-3.4.
 
You can easily get into DO school (most DO schools) if you do ok on the MCAT (26+) for most schools and 30+ for a couple of the tougher schools (MSU, DMU etc.).
 
Top